Learn more about Bottom Of The 33Rd:

On April 18, 1981, a ball game sprang eternal. What began as a modestly attended minor league game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings became not only the longest ever played in baseball history, but something else entirely.

With "Bottom of the 33rd," celebrated "New York Times" journalist Dan Barry has written a lyrical meditation on small-town lives, minor league dreams, and the elements of time and community that conspired one fateful night to produce a baseball game seemingly without end. This genre-bending book, a reportorial triumph, portrays the myriad lives held by the night''s unrelenting grip.

An unforgettable portrait of ambition and endurance, "Bottom of the 33rd" is the rare sports book, one that changes the way we perceive America''s pastime, and America''s past.

From the Publisher:Details the longest game in baseball history, a grueling minor-league matchup between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings that lasted more than eight hours, with the last of the 33 innings being postponed until two months later. (sports & recreation). Simultaneous.

Annotation:More than just a chronicle of the longest professional baseball game (a minor-league contest between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings) ever played, Barry's book is a re-creation of a time (April 1981), a place (Pawtucket, R.I.), and a sense of possibility (two unknown third basemen in this game would eventually be inducted into the Hall of Fame: Cal Ripken Jr. and Wade Boggs) that embodied the fading romance of our national pastime. Why did players battle all night in a contest that had no impact on standings or their wallets? Why did fans remain to cheer them on? Barry tracked down everyone he could find who participated in this historical marathon and captured their feelings of duty, pride, and love.